Skip to content
HearingTracker
Log in

My Phonak Sphere Infinio I90 vs Lumity L90 Shootout

999 replies59.3k viewsLast reply

Jump
Link to this topic
Reply
Edited
@Misterref78 said:

This happened automatically after saving the new setting, can’t remember if they were deleted or just resetted to the new data.

If have an app created programme, and if I adjust its parent programme in Target, the app programme disappears

In reply to @PCamp

PCamp, I don’t have the answer to that cuz I’m not trialing or owning the Sphere (yet!).

myPhonak app allows me to tweak my basic program lineup (default, speech in loud places, music and acoustic phone) a bit, but I think what you’re talking about is can you manually adjust the Autosense setting on the Sphere so it doesn’t transition so OBVIOUSLY when a person steps into a noisy place.

Maybe others here can chime in? Would be interesting to know how that works.

In reply to @heywally

LOL! You’re preachin’ to the Minstrel in the Gallery here! I was born & raised in Chi-town, and nearly went on a date to the '68 Dem Convention with my BF in the 6th grade. My first ever exposure to Jethro Tull was at age 14 - OW, I’ve never looked back. He is a true wandering minstrel from a different era.

With my current , concerts are a thing of the past. I simply have no margin left to lose if I’m to stay in the hearing aid camp. I’m intrigued by the Sphere’s ability to zero in on SPEECH in noisy places, but can’t complain about my current 312-battery Phonak Lumity Life aids. They’re as small as a kidney bean behind my ear, screamin’ PINK in color (which counts!), and a noticeable improvement in clarity over the 2-yr-old rechargeable Lumity Life aids I also use - now ONLY as backups.

Edited

I haven’t posted an update in a while so thought I would catch up with everyone…

As I mentioned in my previous updates, I was having issues with speech clarity whenever the Infinio Sphere hearing were in the “Calm” program. I also felt that music didn’t sound as good as my Lumity L90 hearing aids. I took these issues back to my audiologist a few week ago and we determined that the performance of the new M receivers was different and he swapped out the M receivers for P receivers (both with double domes).

I’m happy to report that after wearing the hearing aids with P receivers for a few weeks, all of my issues have disappeared. Voices are now nice and sharp whenever AutoSense is in the “Calm” program and Music quality is now much richer. I’ve also noticed better speech comprehension in noisier environments and of course, speech in the Spheric program is still incredible.

I think a couple of things worked together to close the gap on my issues. I am convinced that there is something different about the M receivers and their performance compared to the M receivers I was wearing on my Lumity hearing aids. The amount of amplification I needed was butting up against the maximum capabilities of the M receivers and this was causing compression and distortion. Not sure why, but the P receivers completely fixed this issue. I’m guessing the extra head room made all the difference. The other interesting observations I have made is that the larger P receivers are taking up more real estate in my ear canals and this, along with the double domes on these receivers has slightly increased the occlusion in both ears. The Sphere hearing aids are now operating in my ears with a more closed fitting and this has improved sound quality and with extra bass. The analogy would be the way music sounds better when you put your fingers in your ears with an open fitting and everything sounds a bit clearer.

Last night I attended an event which had about 150 people packed into a small 20 ft x 70 ft meeting room. It was absolutely packed in there with horrible noise everywhere, music blasting, people shouting…a total hearing mess. Thing is…with the Spheric AI noise program running the whole time, I could actually hear people and carry on decent conversations. This was a crazy first for me. It wasn’t perfect and there were a few times it was so noisy that I had issues (mostly with people who had foreign accents), but I could still function. Huge relief for me as this was really and truly one of the worst places that I have tested the Sphere’s. An 80% success rate in this type of messy noise environment is a huge improvement.

This Sunday I fly down to the USA for a 3 day business trip. It should be interesting to test the Sphere’s at the airport, on the plane and in a variety of business meeting settings (including a few team dinners). I will report back late next week with another update.

Wishing everyone a good weekend!

Jordan

Edited

@jeffpa, you can also get a feel for what will happen if you do that just by playing around in Target. For example, if you go to a more occlusive fit (power domes), Spheric noise reduction won’t have to work as hard (not sure why). But with an occlusive fit like power domes, slim tips or cShells (either with no vent), the “effort” put in by Spheric speech clarity for Spheric Speech in Loud Noise is only 5 (as shown below). Whereas for any , Spheric Speech Clarity jumps up to the max rating of 7. Maybe with an open fit and some noise leaking directly to your eardrums, Spheric Speech tries to remove even more noise from the processed sound to compensate? Since I have decent low-frequency hearing, more noise would leak directly to my eardrums and be heard if I wear an open fit.

image
(above with my and an occlusive fit).

If you make the dome change, you should also run feedback testing again, as the results of the feedback testing are used to decide how open your fit really is and, IIRC, something about the acoustic parameters of your ear canal with your new receiver configuration. That could affect the intensity at which Target determines Spheric Speech Clarity should be applied by default.

You can also look at how the change in the openness of your fit will change your fitting curves, what happens if you turn on occlusion compensation, etc. Lots of ways to fritter away time testing! :grinning:

Footnote: The oddball thought occurred that Spheric Speech Clarity jumps up in the open fit situation as the receiver engages in active noise cancellation in the ear canal as well as digital signal processing. But if that were so, I think we would have heard about it from Target. So, it’s just an off-the-wall thought.

So far, the only problem I want to solve is the hissing while streaming.

I did notice today, with tv about louder than the wife, I had difficulty understanding her. I threw spheric spheric speech on, but difficult to A/B test

In reply to @jim_lewis

@jim_lewis said:

Spheric noise reduction won’t have to work as hard (not sure why)

If you are in a very noisy situation, some of the noise leaks by as you said. Occluded domes or molds reduces or eliminates the external noise. When my P-90s switch into speech in loud noise, my activevents close and I don’t get much except what comes from the receiver. I have initial appt with sub audiologist on the 5th to discuss my next set of . I intend to ask for infinio spheres with activevents , and new titanium slimtips. I have loved the activevents. Better speech in loud noise would be cherries on top.

WH

Edited
@WhiteHat said:

If you are in a very noisy situation, some of the noise leaks by as you said. Occluded domes or molds reduces or eliminates the external noise.

Yes, that was mentioned in the post you quoted. The “not sure why” was about why Spheric Speech Clarity working harder with an is supposed to help. If Spheric Speech Clarity only works through , I’m not sure how it can help with noise leaking directly to one’s eardrums. The horse would seem to be out of the barn door there.

A previous discussion about activents on the forum seemed to say that they’re expensive and have to be replaced fairly frequently (IIRC, someone said every six months!). How has your replacement experience with activents been?

I found the following Phonak guide to its various earmolds on the web. Pretty complicated!

The guide says that cShells can provide the best sound experience because they provide a more assured positioning of the receiver speaker in the ear canal. Their disadvantage is that the receiver assembly with cShell must be returned to Phonak to replace the receiver. Slim tips do not provide the same assured placement of the receiver opening in the ear canal, but a can replace the receiver without sending the whole shebang back to Phonak. (see PDF page 18 for comparison).

I plan to ask my audi about the pros and cons she’s experienced with her patients on both before deciding on what to go for.

Too funny! :rofl: Grammarly wants to replace “activents” with “activists!”

In reply to @jeffpa

@jeffpa said:

So far, the only problem I want to solve is the hissing while streaming.

What worked for me was to go into the myPhonak app while streaming, hit adjust program and throw the slider right over to the right.

IMG_1972

In reply to @Mimi53

@Mimi53

@Mimi53 said:

I have android phone

Doesn’t matter what phone system you use. Read on…

@Mimi53 said:

…there is no way to turn sphere on…

There are at least 3 ways to turn Spheric in loud noise on:

  1. Turn it on automatically:
    Choose the automatic programm and go in a noisy environment. (Use your myPhonak app. Battery status will have changed % lifetime under 7 hours if fully loaded battery. Or look in “Adjust program”, there status will be changed in Spheric with speech in loud noise).

Use your own made Spheric speech in loud noise program. (For that you first have to make this by going into “Automatic program” and enter/ or make a noisy area. Push “Adjust program”, make a small change in there and save it as a new program by the name you give it).

Use the Spheric speech in noise program your has to make for you as an additional program in his programming software.

@Mimi53 said:

How do I know if it’s even working

-You’ll see that because your battery life time is dramatically reduced. -In my Phonak app you see the program changes. -You’ll hear it because you will be able to hear people talk you couldn’t hear before. -Your battery is going to be drained in a couple of hours!

@Mimi53 said:

…way to turn sphere off…

Leave the noisy room if it was automatically turned on.
Choose one of your not automatic or spheric programs f.i “restaurant” if you want to stay in the noisy environment so your batteries will last longer.

Hope this helps, good luck.

In reply to @roybrocklebank

Hi, thanks for the info. I’m in the UK so just looked at the site you linked to. From what I can see, that price relies on everything being done remotely. You have a telephone chat to establish what sort of hearing aids you want, then you have to send the company your latest audio results you had tested elsewhere. They programme the new based on those results and send them to you. Any fine tuning is done remotely. It appears to be a very similar set up to buying HA from EBay - ok for some very knowledgeable and experienced HA users but not generally recommended for anyone without previous knowledge and expertise who is likely to benefit from the advice of a good audiologist in person.

I’ve got an appointment in person with an audiologist from Audiological Science. They are the cheapest provider of Infinio Sphere I’ve found who actually see clients in person. I will let you know how I get on.

@Michael9 said:

Specsavers do them for £250 less than Audiological Science

Is it for 1 aid £2995,—?
And then this text, what does that mean? You pay a 100% for loss? Strange…
‘Where you’ve purchased a single non-NHS hearing aid and lost it, the replacement cost is 50% of the original price of a pair of hearing aids. You must register a loss within four years of the purchase date’.

In reply to @raylock1

Good post.
I spent a year and a half with a dispensing audi that didn’t know how to set up my Paradise P90Rs. I had to go somewhere that knew how. I kept saying

How do we determine what’s wrong?
How do we know how to fix these ’s?

Person buying hearing aids should get hearing aids that work. I didn’t.

Your answer is very interesting.

Related discussions